❝ 𝚃𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚗𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝, 𝙸 𝚏𝚎𝚕𝚝 𝚏𝚛𝚎𝚎. ❞

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After two weeks, (name) is finally allowed to leave the hospital. To say that she is overjoyed is an understatement. She finally escapes that hell where she needs to take the bitter medicine all the time.

Currently, she and Ryoh are walking side by side, only the light cane knows where to. She asks him a dozen times already, but he refuses to answer.

Noticing that they're making their way to the meeting room, (name) tilts her head to the side. "Are we having a meeting?" She asks, glancing at the light cane who just smiles at her.

"...that smile looks suspicious." She deadpans.

Ryoh keeps his smile as he walks ahead, offering himself to open the door for her, like a gentleman he is. (Name) looks at him weirdly as she steps into the meeting room, only to notice the lack of light in the place.

"...wait, I get a deja vu-"

Click

"Happy birthday!!"

A small gasp escapes her lips as the confetti bursts in front of her and above her, her eyes looking at every person in the room widely.

Just like Rayne's birthday, everyone is there. Mash's group, the visionaries, Domina and his friends, Mr. Wahlberg and Ms. Meliadoul, along with some other staff.

(Name) blinks twice before it finally hits her. "Wait! What's the date?" She exclaims, dumbfounded.

Rayne lets out a sigh as he shakes his head. "10th April," he replies. "It's your birthday, idiot." The crimson cane gapes her mouth in disbelief.

"Already?!"

"She really forgets it," Renatus chuckles, his hands at the back of his head as Kaldo smiles. "You owe me a drink, Renatus." He murmurs, making the immortal cane groan.

Ryoh puts his hand on her back gently as he leads her further in. "Let's eat the cake first, then we'll open your prizes."

As everyone swarms over the table for the cake, Orter sits at the corner with a cup of coffee in his hand. It's not like the crowd is unpleasant to him, but being an introvert he is, it is only his nature to be away from them.

Just when he thinks he's alone, he notices a presence near him and sees the raven haired teen beside him. Staring at him for a while, Orter finally decides to ask.

"Do you need anything?" Mash nods his head as he takes out two boxes, one a small one and another is slightly bigger.

"Flynn told me to come to you or Ryoh if I need help, but Ryoh seems to be busy there." He mutters, making Orter look at the light cane who is busy eating his cake slice in front of a mirror.

Mash opens both of the boxes, revealing a hair clip with ruby decoration around it in the smaller box while a crown with white jewelries patterns in the bigger box. "Flynn was always there when I needed to make a decision. Now that he's gone..." he doesn't finish his sentence, but starts another. "I'm pairing the gift with a cream puff keychain. So which one do you think she likes the most?"

Orter looks at the crown and the hair clip back and forth before humming. "The hair clip would be good," he mutters. "(Name) likes to have things people gave her by her side to show them that she appreciates it. Wearing a crown would be quite odd, so the hair clip is the best option." The desert cane pauses, thinking whether he should continue or not. "This is my personal opinion, but I think the hair clip would look good on her too."

Mash nods his head as he closes both boxes. "You know her well, huh..." he mutters, a ghost smile creeps across his face. "I'll give the crown to Lemon then."

A/n: YES I SHIP MASH X LEMON THEY'RE SO CUTE but this story has no other ships except orter x reader

After eating, Ryoh puts all the prizes on the table, with Kaldo and Rayne's help. He then urges (name) to stand at the centre with a smile. "C'mon, open them." He says gently.

She gets a black handbag with red strings pattern on it and Lance gets her a pair of golden earrings with ruby engraved on each. Lemon gives her a cat plushie that she learnt to make. Domina gives her a mermaid figurine that is made of glass, also representing his friends.

It's now Rayne's turn as he watches her opening the palm-size box. She takes out a golden bracelet that has a sun carved on it.

"Tap on the sun," he mutters as he shows her his wrist that has the same bracelet design, but in a black colour and a moon is carved on it.

(Name) taps on the sun and it suddenly shines, and Rayne's moon emits a small light too, with a tiny, cute sound before hers copies its act.

"I found it while walking around the mall with Finn," he mutters. "Hope you like it."

The crimson cane smiles as she puts the bracelet around her wrist. She then approaches him and pecks his cheek gently. "Thank you, Rayne." The corners of his lips lift up as he returns the smile and ruffles her hair, making it messy.

"Can I get my turn now?" Mash steps ahead, his gift in his hand as Rayne gives him the space. He hands her the box and she takes it gracefully before she pats his head gently.

She opens the box and sees the hair clip, and Orter is quite amused that Mash follows his advice. She traces her fingers on the jewelry that is planted on the hair accessory as her eyes soften.

Those rubies remind her of Flynn's eyes.

After a while, she finally raises her head to look at the ravenette in front of her. "Thank you, Mash," she smiles softly as she bends slightly. "Would you mind?" Handing him the hair clip, Mash takes it and ties her hair into a messy bun and puts the hair clip on.

A strand of her (hair colour) hair falls to her face and Mash tucks it behind her ear gently. "It definitely looks good on you," he smiles softly.

Standing straight, (name) removes Mash's bangs and kisses his forehead, a gesture she always did to Flynn when they were kids. Mash knows this, because when Flynn was still with him, he always talked about their happy moments. Now, he's grateful that he can experience them too.

Ryoh smiles at the scene. He knows that Mash reminds (name) of Flynn so much, and he even sees Flynn in the ravenette. Even though the whitette was one with Mash before, even now, Mash truly looks like him.

He's still bitter about the day he saw Flynn in Mash after he fought Domina, though. It wasn't his illusion, he really did see Flynn's ghost.

Noticing a presence beside him, he greets the desert cane. "Would you like to go first or you'll let me go first?" Orter stares at Mash and (name) silently before closing his eyes. "I'd like to be the last one," he mutters, and Ryoh simply agrees.

But before he can go to the crimson cane, Orter stops him. "I have a question," he mutters. "I need you to answer it so I can decide whether to give her this present or not."

Ryoh looks at him curiously before turning back to him. "Go on," he urges.

Orter takes a deep breath, "Flynn is a foresighter," he states a fact, and Ryoh can't be more curious. What's with it? "But...

...why couldn't he see my future?"

Ryoh blinks his eyes once.

Twice.

Thrice.

Oh.

"Pfft-" Ryoh immediately covers his lips when Orter glares at him as if he wants to kill him. He stifles his laugh and tries his best not to lose his cool right there.

The desert cane scrunches his face, obviously not pleased. "Both of your reactions are the same," he huffs, crossing his arms to his chest. "Just tell me. Am I going to die in the future? Or I just don't have one?"

Ryoh snaps his head at him and waves his hands in the air, dismissing his assumption. "No, nothing like that!" He assures him. "Let me tell you more about the Prudence's foresighters."

Orter bores his eyes at him and waits for him to continue.

"A foresighter can see everyone's future. Whether they'll live or not, everything is visible to these foresighters. So worry not, if you're gonna die, Flynn would've seen it." He explains, and that somehow puts Orter's heart in peace.

His heart has been in worry for two years, since Flynn never really assured him. "Then why can't he see my future?"

Ryoh smiles, "A foresighter can see everyone's future, but not for people who are close to them. Flynn could see everyone's future, including me. He predicted that I would be married to a beautiful woman and had a cute son, and he was right about that." Orter hums, but he still doesn't get the point. "But he couldn't see his own future. He also couldn't see (name) and Fabian's future. That means, he couldn't see his family's future and himself."

The desert cane blinks his eyes. "Are you saying that we're related?" The light cane chokes on his own saliva and shakes his head violently. "No, no!" He denies. "Orter, family includes relations and in-laws." He sighs, that's the most obvious answer for Orter's question.

Orter blinks again. It takes him a good three seconds to really understand it. And when he does, he looks away from the light cane, his hand moves to cover the lower part of his face. "...oh." He mutters, and Ryoh is unamused.

"You must still be confused." The light cane sweatdrops. "Take your time. I'll give my present to (name) now." With that, he leaves the desert cane alone.

Damn. His face feels hot. His ears as well.

Orter furrows his eyebrows as he stares at the side, unknown by the fact that his face has reddened, along with the tips of his ears.

'Damn both of them. Should've told me earlier.'

(Name) is currently cooes at Mash, who she has forced to wear her hair clip that she always has in her pocket. The ravenette looks defeated while Dot laughs his ass off and Lance tries to hold his chuckle.

When Ryoh approaches them, the trio move away to give them some privacy. She notices them leaving, she turns around and comes face-to-face with the light cane who smiles at her with his softest smile, which she returns.

"The hair clip suits you," he caresses her hair gently. (Name) nods her head, "Thank you," she grins as Ryoh takes something out of his pocket, but she fails to see it. "But I think it's better to pair it with this."

He moves behind her and (name) feels something cold wraps around her neck before something falls on her cleavage. She looks down to see a ruby pendant, hanging onto the silver necklace, gracefully matching with Mash's hair clip.

The ruby is the same like the ones on the hair clip and it takes her a breath to stare at it too.

They look like Flynn's eyes.

"Thank you..." she smiles, a hint of longing in her eyes. Ryoh puts his arm around her shoulder and kisses the crown of her head for a good five seconds before pulling away. "Happy birthday," he squeezes her shoulder gently. "All of us are proud of you. Thank you for staying alive, even without Fabian and Flynn."

He has been through so much. Starting from his Fabian's death, then Flynn, lastly (name)'s suicide attempt and self harm.

He witnessed everything.

"You're the strongest man I ever knew, Ryoh," and that's a fact. "And you're the strongest yet the weakest woman I ever knew." He replies softly.

He tucks a strand of her hair behind her ear gently. "Now is his turn," he steps aside, and reveals the desert cane behind him.

(Name)'s heart beats faster just at the sight of him. The man who stole her heart, and she lets him keep it.

His eyes avert to the side as he hands her a gift, wraps in a dark green and golden ribbon. "Happy birthday," he mutters and she thanks him. Unwrapping the gift, she takes a book out of the wrapper.

"For the Love of a Princess...?" She mutters as she opens the first page, only to see a sticky note with some words written on it.

Page 228.

She flips through the book until she reaches the said page. There is a sentence that is highlighted with a golden highlighter and another sticky note under it.

That night, I felt free, the sentence said. She reads the sticky note, page 304.

She notices that the pages before it are slightly bloated. When she reaches that page, a small, round paper that forms a ring greets her sight.

"A paper ring...?" She mumbles, taking and examining it. She lowers the book to ask her wonder at the desert cane, "Orter, what does this-" only to cut herself off.

The whole room is quiet, no one speaks a word. All eyes are on both of them.

The desert cane is on his knee, in between his thumb and index finger is a silver ring with ruby engraves on it. (Name) almost drops the book and the paper ring falls onto the pages. She covers her mouth with her free hand.

"(Name) (last name)," He says her name with delicate, gentleness and softness that he himself has never thought he has that tone.

But it is her name, the woman he adores the most after his brother. The woman that he wishes to be by his side for the rest of his life.

"I always tell myself, 'a life with less freedom is fine'." he mutters, his eyes lock onto hers. "But the thought of being apart from you... I can't survive that. I refuse to adapt to that situation."

(Name) keeps her hand on her mouth as her pupils tremble, her chest tightens. Having eye contact with him always makes her heart jump, but she can't find herself looking away. Instead, she listens to his words that she thinks can only hear them in her dreams.

"As you're my freedom," a lone tear manages to escape her eye and trails down her cheek. "I can't live without my freedom. Without you." Her breath hitches, but she still can't look away.

Orter takes another breath. "As for that reason alone..." his eyes avert to the ground, unable to bear the sight of her in tears. "Allow me to be selfish and at this moment, I propose to you; to be the only woman who stays by my side for the rest of my life." His gaze finally locks with her again. "I can't be perfect for you, but I promise to treat you as a perfection you are."

Another couple of tears escape her eyes as she sniffles slightly. The book is long put on the table, along with the paper ring.

"(Name), will you marry me?"

Those cliché words. The basic sentence that manages to bring any girl into tears; tears of happiness.

She can't hold it anymore.

Tears streaming down her red cheeks as she removes her hand from her lips before they quiver shakily. She takes a deep breath, gaining her voice that can ensure her whole life.

But only a soft sob escapes her lips. Orter immediately stands up as Ryoh steps slightly closer, but stops when the desert cane approaches her.

His hand hesitantly moves to cup her cheek, but stops halfway. He's afraid to lay a hand on her, as if she is a fragile glass.

"It's fine if you reject me," he mutters, but she shakes her head. She sniffles and inhales deeply, her eyes closing, letting the remaining tears fall down.

"I could never..." she whispers shakily. "I could never reject you." Orter's heart skips a beat, and suddenly all the hesitation disappears. His hand gently caresses her cheek, and she leans into his warmth.

"Yes," she finally breathes out. "I would love to marry you."

Loud sounds fill the room, from Dot's words of congratulations to Ryoh's soft sobs. They cheer on the two visionaries with a smile on each face, and they can never hope for more for the best of them.

His eyes soften as he gently brushes her tears away. Then, he takes her right hand in his left one, his thumb caresses the back of her palm. His other hand holds the ring and puts it on her finger.

He brings her hand to his lips, pecking her knuckles with a long, soft kiss as his eyes lock onto hers. She smiles, despite the tears in her eyes.

Unknown to them, two transparent figures stand at the side, a bit far from the crowd. One is tall and has broad shoulders, while the shorter one has a lean figure.

Smiling, he squeezes the shorter one's shoulder gently. "Let's go, Flynn." The said male nods his head,

"Yeah. Let's go."